Insanity Why Are You My Clarity?
by Vietnomnom
Summary: Odin found Loki after the war within the Jotun temple as an infant, left to die. The only thing is: Laufey's son did die. A child born in death, a mother dead yet never dying, the Avengers discover a girl that will change the life of a lost prince, and perhaps the very world as they know it.


_A/N:  
Miss me? Still around, and hopefully I'll get to working on my older works sometime in the near future. Inspiration is hard to find these days. HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!_

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!**_  
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__**READ ON!**

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**Chapter 1**

The new lab was sleek, every surface with its own little shine. Tony Stark was a man that knew what he wanted, and how to keep it too. In this instance, it was Bruce Banner; luring the fellow scientist to stay at the almost fully refurbished Stark Towers. An entire level of the building strictly for the doctor, filled with the latest in scientific technology…and Jarvis, who was turning out to be quite the helpful assistant when the billionaire was off at another meeting.

After having defeated Loki and the coming invasion, with explicit permission from Fury, Bruce had been able to take some blood samples from the god while he was in holding. It was easy enough to ignore the steely glares piercing into his skull while the taller man was bound and gagged. He had been able to retrieve a good number of vials before Thor arrived to escort his brother and the Tesseract back to Asgard. The team had gone their separate ways as soon as the two gods had left, but Bruce and Tony had stayed and returned to the tower.

Weeks had passed since then, leaving Bruce analyzing and testing his blood samples from Loki and a few Chautari that had been lying around. The scientist had asked the Stark computer to analyze the samples and compare them to various plant life and animals, having a moment of thought, and then asking it to include humans as well. So far, there had been no results. Every now and again Bruce would glance at the screen where Jarvis would have displayed any results from the analyzing, disappointed every time when there was still nothing. He would just go back to gazing at his slides through a staggeringly expensive microscope; that was something he would try not to think too hard on. Tony was willing to supply, why complain about expenses?

Having stayed up late in the lab, it was only the disapproving eye Pepper had given him that the scientist finally left to shower, eat, and then pass out in an inviting bed until well past noon. The woman must have been a saint to have the mindset to handle two overworking scientists, one of which liked to binge drink, and the other who would turn into a 'giant green rage monster' if he happened to stub his toe on a bad day, and still be able to help run a multi-million dollar company while the owner was passed out somewhere in the building. So to stagger into the lab with a fresh cup of coffee in hand and still clad in sleep rumpled clothing, it was a regular day for Banner while residing in Stark Towers.

"Good morning Jarvis, have anything for me today?" the man sighed out after a good yawn.

"To you as well Dr. Banner, and yes, I have finally finished analyzing Loki's DNA with that of other beings on Earth. I have one result that I believe you and Mr. Stark would be interested to view."

A little more awake after his first intake of caffeine, the scientist perked at the AI's report. "Is that so? Well put it on screen if you would please, then."

"It is already done sir."

Taking another sip, Bruce looked at the large view screen that presented itself against the wall and slowly roaming over the information with tired eyes; tired eyes that widened quickly before speeding over the details again and again. It wasn't possible, couldn't be—

He didn't even bother to notice as the steaming mug slipped from his grasp and shattered on the floor. "Jarvis, how accurate is this, percentage wise?" The man asked weakly, hardly above a whisper.

"92.43% sir, there were no other organisms with the genetic material matching Loki's at this level, everything else that may have been an equivalent were well below 1%. This subject is the only match on Earth." Fingers flew over keys, looking through graphs, statistics—anything that could make sense of what was right before the scientist.

Everything was a match, right down to the very last cell. A picture stared back, a person too young to fit into the mess of blood that Bruce had dug them into. Never the less, SHIELD needed to know. "Jarvis, get Director Fury on the line, and inform Tony that this is an emergency and is needed back immediately."

"Right away sir."

Minus Thor and the Captain, the Avengers and an irritated Fury were gathered in one of the conference rooms of SHIELD headquarters. Banner was looking unsure and edgy as Fury flipped through the haphazardly put together folder that the scientist had thrust into the other man's hands. The room was silent sans the monotonous ticking of the clock on the far wall. Of the long table, Tony had taken place at the other end, across from the currently brooding director. The company owner hadn't been too keen on being pulled away from lunch with his girlfriend, but hearing the breathless urgency in his friend's voice decided to at least see what the problem was. Not liking the lengthened silence, he cleared his throat loudly, just to break the slowly building tension; Bruce was starting to look a little green around the edges from the waiting.

"Now tell me Dr. Banner, what it is that I'm supposed to be looking at here; forgive me that my knowledge in biology never really passed cutting up a frog." The dark man dropped the folder onto the table top, papers spreading into an inelegant fan. He propped his elbows up onto the armrests, folding his hands together in front of his face as his one eye trained on the smaller man on his right.

Collecting himself, banner closed his eyes and took a steady breath before speaking. "If you recall Director Fury, that after we captured Loki, you gave me permission to take some DNA samples from him while in holding."

"I recall…"

"Well, I was curious, and I decided to investigate, to see if there were any organisms on our world that had genetics close to or resembling that of Loki's. And out of millions, maybe even billions of possible matches, there was only one." Banner slid the folder to himself and dug through the papers until he came to find the one he was looking for and slid it back to the director. A picture of someone in their early 20's stared back at the man, complete with a few summarized details about the individual.

"Banner, get to the point. Let me guess, she's the man's daughter?"

Bruce had to swallow before speaking, "Not exactly, sir."

"Then who is she?" Fury snapped at him.

"She's Loki's mother."

There was a moment of silence before in a quick motion, Fury snatched up the picture again and this time actually read the information:

_**Name: Aria (ar-ee-ah) Wood  
Sex: F  
Age: 23  
Location: Seattle, WA**_

"You've got to be joking. Says here the girl's never even left the state, let alone been old enough to be Loki's mother. There's nothing here that could even lead to that conclusion doctor."

"The DNA doesn't lie. I re-ran the tests several times and the results still came out the same. Unless some kind of cloning or time travel was involved, this girl is Loki's biological mother. We already know that he was adopted by Thor's parents; there must be some connection that we're just not seeing here!"

Fury waved down the scientist's rant, "Alright Banner, you've got my interest. We'll take a look into this; figure out what the story is. Barton, Romanoff," he got the two agent's attention, "I want you to go to Seattle and pick up the girl. Stark, make sure that communications stay secure. We keep this below the belt, maintain tight security. If the wrong person were to find out about this, I don't even want to know what they would do to get to her, so make sure she gets here intact, cover your tracks; we'll reconvene when she arrives to headquarters. Meeting adjourned!"

_In Asgard_

The last guard dropped to the floor in a broken heap, alongside the rest of his fallen comrades. A figure fled as the sound of more guards came from down the long corridor. The fools would never catch up in time, Loki was sure. So many weeks having been locked away deep within the dungeons, cold nights spent sleepless after the first few days; Thanos hadn't taken keenly to having lost a good portion of his army. The nightmares were only a taste of what the man would do once he had the Asgardian traitor in his clutches.

Loki had found himself drowning in rage from the mental onslaught from the alien leader, combined with the beatings the guards would throw in at any opportunity. Of course dear Thor had been forbidden from entering the dungeons; his eyes would never lay sight of his brother's beaten and bruised body. Odin had tried to speak with his wayward son, but the Trickster was no fool and would not be swayed by the man's pretty lies, besides, that was his job. Loki had kept his silence, giving his only available form of rebellion, smirking when the old man walked away shaking his head. But the silence had another cause, allowing the god to focus inward and build up his magic without notice. Two months and he had more than enough to escape and then wreak havoc upon Thor and his precious Midgard: starting with the Avengers.

Another guard is run through by the prince's spear, dropping with a loud thud and choking on blood. Loki's grin is all teeth as he simply steps over the dead body and continues on. Breaking the seal on his prison door had been easy enough, but to avoid the royal family and the full assault of the palace guard had been child's play.

"LOKI!"

And here arrived the child. Thor in all his glory sped around the corner at the other end of the hall, hammer in hand. Both brothers were still, eyes locked in silent battle up until Thor, with a bellow to rival a bear, made the first move. He lunged, weapon striking swift and true—only to hit the stone floor, a cackling illusion dispersing.

Outside the palace, the real Trickster gazed from afar at what had been his home, his prison, and now his next conquest after dealing with the mortal world. Loki focused his magic, preparing to teleport away. Hearing Thor's outraged scream echoing throughout Asgard didn't bring the satisfaction that had been expected.

"Really brother, when are you not going to fall for that?" the man whispered with a disappointed frown. Lifting the blood drenched spear, Loki brought it back down with a resounding ring, disappearing in a flash of green light. Midgard would fall, and the god would be the one left standing as the entire world and its creatures burned to the ground around him. If he couldn't rule, then he would make sure that _no one_ could.

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**A/N: **Hadn't seen any fics around about Loki's mom so TADA! Hopefully more to come, keep an eye out.

**Reviews Appreciated**


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